4 min readUpdated: Aug 4, 2026 05:53 PM IST
Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who is currently FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, has distanced himself from the global football governing body’s president Gianni Infantino’s failed attempt to sell stakes in profits from future World Cups, stating that it was “absolutely necessary” to drop the proposal. News of the secretive deal has triggered a stunning drop in fortunes for Infantino, with European football confederation UEFA leading calls for him to no longer be president of UEFA.
“I was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports,” said Wenger, who was hired by Infantino in 2019 and is FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development. The statement by the former Arsenal coach did not name Infantino and comes after a weeklong furor across world soccer. “The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency, and integrity,” Wenger wrote. Wenger was appointed by Infantino in the role in 2019 and has in recent days come under criticism for his silence on the issue.
FIFA announced that the bid had been withdrawn hours after UEFA threatened to withdraw from all future tournaments, including the World Cup. UEFA then stated that while it welcomed FIFA’s decision to drop the proposal, it had lost confidence the Infantino-led management. UEFA recalled Infantino’s statement when he was running for the position in 2016, in which he had highlighted the need for transparency and utilisation of associations’ money for the benefit of the sport.
“On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent. And with reserves standing at over $5bn, he has also failed to use associations’ money for the benefit of the game,” it said.
“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.” UEFA has since said that it is “actively considering” legal action on Infantino.
Infantino’s plan would have created a a subsidiary — known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) — to run the money-making parts of the not-for-profit soccer body’s work: Organizing tournaments like the World Cup, selling broadcasting and sponsorship rights, tickets and hospitality. FIFA is registered as a non-profit organisation in Zurich, Switzerland and is collectively owned by 211 member federations.
The proposal was to raise $4.2 billion from investors by selling stakes amounting to about 20% in FFE, based on an equity valuation of $20 billion. The “anchor investor” would have been Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Each of FIFA”s member federations were offered $20 million each and were given a deadline of September 19 to accept the proposal. They also were promised a doubling of their FIFA funding for the four years through 2030 to $20 million instead of the previously announced $10 million.
Infantino shared details of the project to FIFA management just one week after the July 19 final of the financially successful World Cup in North America that drove FIFA’s revenues to $15 billion for the 2023-26 commercial cycle — almost double the income tied to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Wenger said his FIFA duties were to “oversee the data analysis of the game, the FIFA online training centre, the development of youth education through 60 academies across 60 countries where they are most needed, and youth competitions around the world.”
